Head for fodder-shredders, &amp;c.



No. 648,!5I. Patented Apr. 24, I900. .1. c. LESLIE.

HEAD FOR FUDDEB SHREDDERS, 81.0.

(Applicatiun filed. Sept. 2, 1898.)

2 Sheets-Sheet I.

(No Model.)

J. C. LESLIE.

HEAD FOR FODDEB SHBEDDERS, 81.6.

Patented Apr. 24, I900.

(Application filed Sept. 2, 1898.)

2 Sheets-Sheet 2,

(No Model.)

yjzw zzfi QZ, (y w 14 NITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOSEPH C. LESLIE, OF ST. ALBAN S, VERMONT.

HEAD FOR FODDER-SHREDDERS, 800.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 648,151, dated April24, 1900.

Application filed September 2, 1898. Serial No. 690,096. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JOSEPH O. LESLIE, a resi' dent of St. Albans, in thecounty of Franklin and State of Vermont, have invented certain new anduseful Improvements in Heads for Fodder-Shredders, &c., of which thefollowing is a specification. I

. My invention relates to a new andimproved construction for the headsof fodder-shredders and similar machinery, which are designedto shred ortear up cornstalks or similar material into a fine condition in whichthey somewhat resemble coarse hay andvin which state they can be fed thesame as hay.

As the machines have hitherto been constructed in practice the carryingportions of the heads consisted of a series of circular saws with-largeteeth, set parallel to each other and at an oblique angle to the shaft,as shown in my Patent No. 551,774, dated December 24, 1895. Sometimesinstead of setting the saws at an oblique angle 'to the shaft in orderto cover the space between them by the teeth the saws have been set atright angles to the.

the point of their support on the shaft, so that the saws were alwaysunder a great strain resulting from the centrifugal force and,furthermore, worked at such a disadvantage as made such heads greatpower consumers. My invention is designed to remedy all these defectsand simplify the construction very materially by constructing my head ofa series of preferably annular disks strung upon a shaft at regularangular intervals with each other, each one having one or, possibly, twoteeth projecting therefrom at right angles to the shaft, so that theteeth of a sufficient number of the disks to make the total sum of theirangular separations three hundred and sixtydegrees represent a singlespire of teeth, there being as many spires in the entire spiral on theshaft as would be determined by the number of disks employed, thatnumber being an exact multiple of the number of teeth necessary to forma single spire in order that the shaft may be balanced.

and consequently cause the head to cut with greater difficulty,.as thereare several teeth at work at one instant, while no teeth are at workuntil the next row presents itself to the point of work. In my improvedconstruction I arrange the points of the corresponding teeth so thatthey shall form spirals of a slight pitch to the axis of the head, sothat more than one tooth is never at the point of work at one instant.

Another feature of my invention consists of the construction of thetooth having the ordinary chisel edge, but arranged so that the throatof the tooth shall also have acutting edge to facilitatethe work ofshredding.-

Another feature of my invention consists in providing each head with apair of disks at its ends, preferably convex toward the center of thehead, so as to crowd all the mate rial coming between them directly intothe path of the teeth constituting the head proper.

In order to secure a better understanding of my invention, reference ishad to the accom panying two sheets of drawings, in which the sameletters of reference are used to designate identical parts in all thefigures, of which- Figure 1 is a perspective View of the completemachine with the hood raised to expose the shredder-head. Fig. 2 is asection through the shredder-head and feed-rolls on the line 2 2 of Fig.3. .Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section through the shredder-head on theline 3 3 of Fig. 2, and Fig. 4 is a perspective view of one of the disksand its tooth.

Referring more especially to Fig. 1, A rep resents the framework of themachine, upon the upper surface of which is the feed-table B, upon whichthe fodder is placed and by which it is directed to the feed-rolls D andF. -(See Fig. 2.) Suitably mounted in the lower part of the framework isthe shaft 0, through which the power may be applied and which has on oneend thereof the sprocket-gear O,which by means of a sprocket chaindrives the sprocket-wheelD, fastened upon one end of the shaft carryingthe upper feed-roll D. As ordinarily operated, the feed-rollers are runat the rate of about one hundred and ten revolutions to the minute, andin order to run the shreddenhead at the much higher rate of speeddesired, about fifteen hundred revolutions per minute, I have fastenedupon the shaft 0 the large belt-wheel C which drives by means of thecustomary bolt the small belt-pulley l3, fastened upon the shaft E ofthe shredder-head. The feed-rolls D and F, which are preferably of thesnappingroll type, about three inches in diameter and deeply fluted, aregeared to rotate synchronously, and have their ends mounted in thestandards G, which contain the strong expanding helical springs II,which press the feed-rolls together, and which is further provided witha screw, as at H, whereby the tension of the springs upon the rolls maybe increased.

J is the customary hood, which when closed down covers theshredder-head, which by its well-known action upon the material fedthrough the rolls D and F tears the fodder into shreds,which aredischarged through the chute A The features hitherto described are notclaimed in the present application, they being, so far as they areinventions of mine, covered by my prior patents.

The shredder-head proper is carried by the shaft E, which is mounted inthe bearings A, which are arranged so that the teeth of theshredder-head may be adjusted as closely as may be desired to thefeed-rolls, the lower one of which, F, acts as a cutter-bar for thehead. The customary fly-wheel K is mounted on the end of the shaftEopposite to that upon which the pulley-wheel E is mounted. Two disks L,having, preferably, convex inner surfaces, are fastened to the shaft Ejust inside of the bearings A by means of the set-screws L, mounted inthe collar L forming the center of the disks. The object of these disks,as previously explained, is to crowd the material which has a tendencyto work out at the ends toward the center of the head and directly intothe path of the teeth. The shredding-disk M (best shown in Fig. 4)consists of a disk which for economy of weight and material ispreferably thin in its center and has the holes M cast therein tofurther reduce the weight. The flange M constituting the periphery ofthe disk, is much thicker than the central web, and these flanges ofadjacent disks contact closely, as shown in Fig. 3. The large hole Mbored in the center of the disk, permits its being strung upon the shaftE. The shredding is accomplished by the tooth M projecting from theperiphery of the disk and of the peculiar shape which has been found tobe the best in this class of machines.

The point of the tooth has a chisel-edged cut-- of sharpness that may berequired. Instead of having the throat M of the tooth flat like one ofthe sides of the end M as has been hitherto customary in shredder-teeth,I cast or otherwise shape it so that it is a cutting edge which assistsmaterially in the shredding action and is especially useful inovercoming any tendency of the material to clog up and choke theshredder-head. To secure these disks in place on the shaft, I boretherein the equidistant holes M near the periphery, and through theseholes I pass one or more. rods N, whichhave square or polygonal heads N,fitting into the apertures L which have similarcross-sections to preventthe rods turning in one of the disks L, and the other ends of which arescrew-threaded to receive the nuts N which are secured on the outer sideof the other disk L. Thus it will be seen that as all of these disks Mare exactly alike it is a very simple matter to build up the heads asthey are strung upon the shaft E and the rods N, each one being placedso that it is in advance of the preceeding one an angular distancerepresented by the distance between the holes M hen it is desired toremove any tooth for sharpening or in case any breakage should occur,all that is necessary is to loosen one ofthe heads L and the nuts N whenthe teeth above it can be lifted off and got at.

Of course it will be understood that I might, if it is deemed desirable,place more than one tooth upon each disk; but I have shown herein thepreferred form, in which a single tooth is employed. In the constructionshown six holesM are employed, so that it takes six disks to complete aspire, and as twenty-four teeth are shown there are four complete spiresin the machine. Of course the number of teeth to make a spire and thenumber of spires employed may be varied as the purposes of the machinedemand.

In order to get the desired construction, in

which not more than one of the teeth is ever at the working point at thesame time, having assembled the disks L and M on the shaft E, I firstfasten one of the disks L in place and then twist the other one backwardor forward a certain distancesay for a twelve- IIO inch head a distanceof one inchthe rods M yielding suiiiciently to permit this twisting, andI then fasten the hitherto free disk L securely in place by means of theset-screw L. It will readily be observed that this construction might beemployed in connection with the disks M, having any desired number ofteeth, even if they were arranged so as to become an ordinary circularsaw.

It will thus be seen that I have devised a shredder-head which ischeaply constructed, readily assembled, and possesses the severaladvantages hereinbefore set forth, and that I do not desire to belimited to the exact construction shown and described, but only desireto cover such modifications as are within the scope of my invention.

What I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the UnitedStates, is-

1. A head composed of a series of annular disks, each having one or moreteeth projecting from the periphery thereof and having a concentricseries "of equidistant apertures therein, a collar secured to each endof the head adjacent to the bearings, and one or more rods fastened attheir ends to said collars and passing through one of the apertures ineach disk, the adjacent disks being arranged at an angular distanceequal to that between two adjacent apertures in any disk, so that thepoints of the teeth form a helical spiral around the head.

2. In a shredder, the head composed of a shaft, with a series of annulardisks M strung thereon, each having a cutting-tooth M projecting fromthe periphery thereof and formed with a chisel-edged end and a narrowerbody portion having a cutting edge, and means for securing said disks onthe shaft so that the ends of their teeth shall form a helical spiralabout said shaft, the teeth being shaped as described above andspacedapart'so that there is a space between adjacent teeth through which thematerial-can pass to facilitate and secure the shreddingaction.

8. In a shredder, the head composed of a shaft,with the disks M strungthereon, having a thin central web with the holes M therein,

the wider annular flange M and the toothv Mt will form a helical spiral;and means for securing the rods N relative to the shaft.

4. A head composed of a shaft, with a series of toothed cutting disksstrung thereon, each having a plurality of apertures therein, eachequidistant from the adjacent apertures and from the center of the disk,a collar secured to one end of the shaft, one or more rods fastened attheir ends to said collar, each passing through one of theholes in eachdisk, and a second collar on the shaft to which the other ends of therods are fastened, and which is secured to the shaft at an angularvariation from the first collar so that each of said rods will form aportion of a helical spire about said shaft.

5. A shredder head comprising a disk formed with a peripheral flange anda forwardly-directed tooth having a chisel-edged end and a narrowershank joining it to said disk, said narrower shank being brought to acutting edge in front, and adapted, in connection with adjacent teeth,to form a clearance for the cut material.

- 6. In a shredder-head, a plate or disk mounted upon a shaft andcarrying the tooth M formed with the chisel-edged end M transve'rsetotheline of advance and the narrowed portion between'this end andtheflange or hub carrying the tooth formed with acutting edge at rightangles to theaxis of the shaft and in the line of movement and behindthe point, substantially as described.

9 [JOSEPH 0. LESLIE.

Witnesses:

SADIE E. ANDREWS, WM. SIMPSON.

